Eight months ago, Christian Brigham stepped onto the tarmac at Boston’s Logan Airport to board a flight to Orlando.
The brisk February air that Monday morning was quite familiar to Brigham, a Massachusetts native who wrestled throughout New England for six years as Christian Casanova. And as the clock struck nine and he settled into his coach seat on the American Airlines jet, Brigham understood the opportunity in front of him.
In his luggage, he carried hopes and dreams of a career in WWE. And while he boarded the plane as Brigham, he disembarked—not completely unlike Clark Kent leaving the phone booth as Superman—as Carmelo Hayes.